On this day in music history: October 30, 1979 - Master Of The Game, the seventeenth album by George Duke is released. Produced by George Duke, it is recorded at Westlake Audio in West Hollywood, CA from August - September 1979. His fifth album for Epic Records in just two years, it is the second of three albums the highly prolific Jazz/Funk and R&B musician will release in only a year and a half. Issued as the official follow up to Follow The Leader from earlier in the year (Brazilian Love Affair which is recorded in between, but not released until May of 1980), it features Duke with his core band consisting of Ricky Lawson (drums), Byron Miller (bass), Sheila Escovedo (aka Sheila E.) (percussion), The Seawind Horns (Jerry Hey, Gary Grant, Bill Reichenbach, Gary Herbig), and vocalists Josie James and Napoleon Murphy Brock. The album will introduce new guitarist David Myles (replacing Charles Icarus Johnson), and vocalist Lynn Davis to the band. The new singer will make her mark immediately on the single I Want You For Myself (#23 R&B and Club Play). Davis sultry lead vocal combined with the slinky but driving track will turn the song into an instant club classic, with the ultra rare 12 single pressing becoming a highly coveted and sought after item among DJs and collectors. Though just a modest success at the time of its original release, the album will be reassessed by DJs and dance music producers in the early 2000s who sample liberally from it, including French electronic dance musicians Daft Punk who will sample the track I Love You More for their song Digital Love. Master Of The Game will peak at number eighteen on the Billboard R&B album chart, and number one hundred twenty five on the Top 200.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 23:45:07 +0000